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Didyma |
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Didyma
(nearby Didim, in the Aegean region of
Turkey) was a cult center for the city
of Miletus. It is located in the present
day village of Yeniköy, about fifteen
kilometers from the site of Miletus. In
ancient times, it was connected to its
mother city by a sacred road that had
statues located on either side of it |
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The
Didymaion, the temple to Apollo and its
oracle at Didyma, was of considerable
repute among the ancients. German
archaeologists excavating at the site
have shown that the earliest sanctuary
here was built in the 8th century B.C.
and that it was enlarged into an
enormous temple around 560 B.C. After
their bloody suppression of the Ionian
rebellion, the Persians sacked and laid
waste to Miletus (which they regarded as
the instigator) and the Didymaion in 494
B.C. It was during this assault that the
temple's cult statue of Apollo was
carried off to Ecbatana. After Alexander
the Great defeated the Persians in 334
B.C., the Ionian cities regained their
independence and work was begun on
reconstructing the Apollo temple.
Around 300 B.C., King Seleukos I of
Syria, who then controlled western
Anatolia, had the bronze statue of
Apollo brought back from Ecbatana to be
installed in the new temple, to whose
construction he also provided monetary
assistance. The new building was
designed by the architects Paionios and
Daphnis. The former was from Ephesus and
was one of those who worked on the
Artemision there. The temple was planned
on a much grander scale than the
original sanctuary and indeed it was the
third largest religious structure in the
ancient world being surpassed only by
the Ephesian Artemision and a temple on
the island of Samos. The Hellenistic
temple measured 109.34 by 51.13 meters
and had a total of 124 columns. It was
set on a seven-stepped platform
measuring 3.5 meters high and in the
center of the east front there was a
separate flight of fourteen steps. The
construction of so huge a building
naturally took a long time and continued
during the 3rd and 2nd centuries B.C.
One section was only completed in Roman
times. While the temple suffered
repeatedly from fires and earthquakes,
it sustained the worst damage in an
earthquake in 1493.
The columns still standing measure 2.40
meters in diameter and 19.70 meters in
height. The double row of columns
surrounding the temple was covered over
with a marble roof as was the temple
proper. The central courtyard measured
53.63 by 21.71 meters and was the site
of the Archaic period temple. During
Hellenistic times, a small temple
(called as naiskos) was built here to
house the bronze statue of Apollo. Its
surrounding walls were 25 meters in
height and decorated with Gryphons. The
cella was unroofed. East of the adyton
(sacred courtyard) is a great stairway
of 24 steps measuring 15.20 meters wide.
This flight of steps leads up to a
windowless, three door hall where the
oracle was written down and delivered.
The hall measured 20 meters high and had
a marble roof. East of the chamber, a
door 5.63 meters wide and 14 meters high
leads to the pronaos. The pronouncement
of the oracles could only be listened to
from outside the chamber. Stairways led
to the upper floor. On either side of
the entrance are doors measuring 2.25
meters high and 1.2 meters wide that
each connects to a narrow, vaulted
tunnel leading to the adyton. At the far
end of each corridor is a small
propylon-like room. |
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